Deforest B Soaries Jr

Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, New Jersey. A pioneer of faith-based community development, Dr. Soaries has led First Baptist in the construction of a new $20 million church complex and the formation of many not-for-profit entities to serve the community surrounding the church. Highlights of Dr. Soaries' ministry include recruiting families to become foster parents to 475 children; helping 184 children find adoptive parents; constructing 124 new homes for low and moderate income residents to own; redeveloping 150,000 square feet of commercial real estate; operating the Central New Jersey STRIVE program for job readiness; serving hundreds of youth in an after school center and homework club; forming a youth entrepreneurship program; redeveloping commercial real estate; and organizing a community development credit union. Rev. Soaries earned a bachelor's of arts degree at Fordham University and a master of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Donna, have twin sons, Malcolm and Martin.